Organisation of search in spite of inconsistencies in the Slovene boat database

Abstract

In our thesis we examined a database of boats, their drives and their owners. The data stored in the database is of inferior quality due to flawed design and missing security features. Field types are inconsistent, they lack keys and sometimes even important information. Such system is adequate for its primary use but is not suited for our application and may cause problems in interconnectivity of data with other databases. So the main objective of the thesis is to design an application that would allow us to successfully browse through the data despite all the flaws. The data would then be presented on screen, exported to the Excel program or printed if needed. We would also like to connect the data with other databases, such as the database of postcodes. That would enable us to search also by the post name instead of only by postcodes. The presented data would also be enriched with more information. In order to enforce the boat tax law (Uradni list RS št. 117/2006) the tax office requires a database of boats and their owners. The data needed to calculate the lawfully prescribed taxes are required to identify the owner or owners of the boat and the boat itself as well as to define the boat's properties together with the type of the drive and power output. This requires a thorough maintenance of the database and its ability to connect with other relevant data sources. We want to standardize the data output to enable easy exchange of information with other European Union member states.